NRA goes big in key Senate, governor's races
By JAMES HOHMANN
The National Rifle Association has reserved $11.4 million for its initial fall advertising campaign and will begin airing its first TV commercials Wednesday in three Senate races crucial to determining which party controls the chamber next year.
The gun rights group, which outlined its fall priorities exclusively for POLITICO Campaign Pro, said it plans to spend much more than the initial outlay during the final weeks before the midterm elections.
The gun rights group, which outlined its fall priorities exclusively for POLITICO Campaign Pro, said it plans to spend much more than the initial outlay during the final weeks before the midterm elections.
The first ads will begin airing in the Arkansas, Colorado and North Carolina Senate races. They will be followed in the next few days with a mix of TV, radio and digital ads to help out the GOP Senate candidates in Georgia, Kentucky, Iowa and Louisiana.
The initial buy in West Virginia, Florida and New Hampshire is for just digital and radio. It also does not include a mail campaign that began last month.
The group will spend $1.3 million on its ad boosting Rep. Cory Gardner in Colorado. Most of the money, $856,195, will be spent in the Colorado Springs-Pueblo market, followed by $293,490 in the Grand Junction market. Two state legislators, including the president of the Colorado Senate, were recalled in 2013 for backing a gun control measure pushed by Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, who is also up for reelection.
The Gardner ad features a diverse group of men and women standing outdoors, looking into the camera.
“Our 2nd Amendment rights are under attack by the Obama administration and Sen. Mark Udall,” a male narrator says in the 30-second ad, shared first with POLITICO. “That’s why we need leaders like Cory Gardner in the U.S. Senate to fight back for us. In Colorado, Gardner introduced legislation to protect our 2nd Amendment rights. In the Senate, he’ll stand up against their extreme anti-gun agenda. And that’s why the NRA is proud to support Cory Gardner.”
Nearly identical commercials, all produced by the firm RedPrint Strategy, will air in support of Arkansas Rep. Tom Cotton and North Carolina state House Speaker Thom Tillis.
The NRA has reserved $1.4 million of time in each state.
The bulk of the North Carolina buy, just over $1 million, will air in the Raleigh-Durham market, and about $350,000 will be spent in Greensboro.
Tillis himself is running positive spots in Greensboro, but the Republican has been badly outgunned in this GOP-leaning area, incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan’s home media market. Democrats believe she can overperform because of her ties to the area, so the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Senate Majority PAC have been pounding Tillis on the Greensboro airwaves.
But the NRA is confident that it can drive up Hagan’s negatives in a region of the Tar Heel State that tends to be especially leery of gun control.
In Iowa, the NRA will spend $800,000 to help Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst.
In Louisiana, the group has reserved about $775,000 to help Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy against Sen. Mary Landrieu.
In Georgia, the NRA plans to spend about $300,000 initially — spread across Augusta-Aiken, Macon and Savannah — to help Republican David Perdue against Democrat Michelle Nunn.
In Kentucky, the initial buy is $330,000, with more to come to help Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell against Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes. The two have traded gun-themed ads in recent days.
The initial buy to help Walker in Wisconsin is for a little over $1 million: $445,000 in the La Crosse-Eau Claire market, $351,000 in Green Bay-Appleton and $259,000 in Wausau-Rhinelander. Walker is in a tight race with Democrat Mary Burke.
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